Swordfish

Director Dominic Sena seems to fancy himself some kind of John Woo Jr. But John Woo (The Killer, Hard Boiled, Face/Off, M:I-2) is an action genius who has a gift for turning gun battles into ballet and explosions into art. Sena (Gone in 60 Seconds) couldn't care less about art as long as his computer-enhanced mega-blasts are as big, as orange, as slow-motion and as debris-filled as possible. Swordfish is all about simplistic characters, nonsensical plot and über-stunts (bus hanging from helicopter over downtown Los Angeles). Visually it's slicker than Teflon, but if you want plot, forget about it: why bother when you've got greasy rogue government agent John Travolta firing two machine guns out of the top of a customized convertible during an 100-mph chase? You want plausible characters? Ha! Hunky new matinee idol Hugh Jackman (Someone Like You, X-Men) is supposed to be the world's most dangerous hacker (yeah, right). If John Woo were in a coma after a botched full frontal lobotomy, he could still make a better action movie than Swordfish. Not recommended, even at the sell-through price. (R. Blackwelder)